Does Mothering a Doll Change Teens ’ Thoughts About Pregnancy?

ABSTRACT. Objective. To determine the effect of age on the efficacy of the computerized, infant simulator doll Baby Think It Over (BTIO) for increasing middle school girls ’ knowledge about the responsibilities of parent-hood and discouraging plans for teen childbearing. We hypothesized: 1) 8th grade students would be less apt than 6th grade students to equate BTIO care with moth-ering because they would rationalize that their infant would be easier to care for than BTIO; and 2) BTIO would be a more effective teen pregnancy prevention program with 6th grade students than with 8th grade students. Methods. Nulliparous 6th (n 5 68) and 8th (n 5 41) grade girls attending an urban middle school in a pre-dominantly lower socioeconomic, Hispanic, neighbor